


Sacrifice

by KivaEmber



Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Crossover, Gen, rewritten
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-16
Updated: 2012-08-18
Packaged: 2017-11-12 06:57:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/487993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KivaEmber/pseuds/KivaEmber
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>DeSu1/DeSu2 X-over. We all know that Hibiki was given four choices on Day Six, right? Well, turns out there were actually five.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Demon Ending

**Author's Note:**

> This is the rewritten version of Sacrifice! I decided to take another whack at this and update it and overhauled the story entirely (so chapter two is completely different!).

“You’re in a bit of a tough spot.”

Hibiki gasped shallowly, his arms wrapped tight around him in an effort to cradle his throbbing ribs. Every breath hurt and his vision blurred from the pain, something hot burning against the back of his eyes. There was a scrape of boots against the pavement, and Hibiki reached out blindly, nails scratching against rough tarmac as he reached for his-

“Ah, ah,  _don’t_ ,” A boot pressed down on his hand. The pressure was gentle, but the threat was still there, weighing heavily on the delicate joints of his fingers. Hibiki immediately stilled, his heart hammering against his aching ribs.

“Good boy,” the voice said brightly, and the boot lifted a centimetre off of his fingers. “I don’t want to break you, y’know.”

Hibiki tilted his head to the side, his face scrunched in pain as he looked up at the boy above him – and it  _was_ a boy. He looked younger than Hibiki, and younger still in the ridiculous looking long collared cape. It was too big on him, and made it seem like he was a teenager on his way to a dress up Halloween party – especially with those headphones mimicking horns on his head.

Yet, this scrawny teenager utterly demolished Hibiki’s resistance within minutes. He swatted aside his strongest demons like they were dust motes and flung him into a wall with little to no effort. Ridiculous appearance or no, this kid was – no way was he human. His eyes were weird too, reflecting the dim light of the stars above so that the irises looked like opaque discs of silver, pinpoints of red gleaming where the pupils were.

“So…” the boy murmured softly, “Why’s He lurking around you, then… you’re a bit too weak for me, so for Him…”

Hibiki inhaled sharply, and the boot pressed against his fingers again, the boy’s face splitting into an amused grin – like this was some stupid game. Hibiki felt helpless frustration bubble up in him, wishing he had the strength to wrench free and, and do _something_ …!

“Aw, don’t pull that face. I’m not going to hurt you- well, more than I have already,” the boy laughed in a friendly sort of way, his grin widening. The boot tapped against his fingers, and then it was pulled away, settling firmly on the pavement. “Sorry about that.”

The boy lifted his hand from underneath his cloak, shimmering with power – and then the ache in Hibiki’s body faded, melted away with a sensation like a cool, refreshing breeze. Hibiki immediately snatched up his phone and scrambled backwards, staggering to his feet in the same movement.

“Who-!”

“I’m Kazuya,” the boy said, still grinning widely, “King of Bel. Ever hear of that?”

Bel?

The confusion must’ve shown on Hibiki’s face, because Kazuya sighed, looking briefly put out. “Guess not…  _figures_. Well,” the boy – Demon King – tilted his chin up, his expression cocky, “I’m hot shit, especially among demons, so don’t bother summoning anymore,” he mock-chided, wagging a finger at the poleaxed looking Hibiki.

“But…” Hibiki muttered, feeling indecisive from confused caution, “Why are you-”

“Here?” Kazuya laughed at Hibiki’s disgruntled expression, “Your questions are pretty obvious. Look, I’m searching for something, and you have it. It’s shining around you…”

Shining…? Hibiki frowned; “You…you don’t know Anguished One, do you?”

“Anguish- oh,” Kazuya’s expression became complicated then, his bottom lip caught between his sharp teeth, “The guy in the snazzy suit? Well, I know him, and he probably knows me,” a casual shrug, “It’s my first time in this world, but he seems like he’s on the up and up, so who knows.”

Hibiki shifted uncertainly. Kazuya’s eyes were intent upon him, the scarlet gleam looking starker than before. Who was Bel? He mentioned coming to this world, so – Hibiki just felt bewildered. He had thought nothing could startle or shock him after the Septentrione Invasion, and the revelation about Polaris, but he was proven wrong.

Was Hibiki’s life just going to be one fantastical thing after the next?

“I’ll cut to the chase,” Kazuya said suddenly, “I’m searching for God. That slimy bastard managed to slip away from me, and scatter Himself through the dimensions. For some reason, they keep centring on this dying world.”

As he spoke, Kazuya’s voice became softer and lower, almost predatory. In response, Hibiki felt his heart flutter, his feet rooted to the spot at the tension that suddenly rose around them. Kazuya was staring straight into his eyes, and for the life of him, Hibiki couldn’t look away.

“Why, I asked myself, would He come here?” Kazuya murmured, “I asked Naoya too, but he told me jackshit as usual.”

The demon stepped closer. Hibiki stepped backwards. His back struck the cracked brick wall, and Hibiki felt his knees wobble, eyes darting around him to see that he had been soundly backed into a literal corner – he was trapped, and judging by the smirk on Kazuya’s lips, he was quite happy with that.

“So, there’s something about  _you_  that’s attracting God to you,” Kazuya continued, “Maybe you’re some pious weirdo, maybe your soul’s yummy to Him, I don’t know. I don’t care. I’m keeping you.”

_What?_

“What?”

“You’re mine now,” Kazuya said, his tone brooking no argument, “If I have you, God will surely follow. Then I can destroy Him completely and be done with this ridiculous game of ours.”

“ _No_!” Hibiki shouted, pushing away from the wall. Kazuya blinked, looking a bit startled at the sudden show of aggression. Such a reaction bolstered Hibiki’s angry courage, and he took a belligerent step forward, narrowing the distance between them, “I have things to do! I have to save-”

“This world’s done for,” Kazuya interrupted, his voice suddenly cold, “I’m doing you a favour here. You’ll come to a non-dead world, make new friends, get to be buddy buddy with the King of Demons… it’s a win/win situation.”

“I have to save my friends,” Hibiki growled, shifting close until he was nose to nose with Kazuya. “I don’t know how yet, but I  _will_.”

Kazuya stared at him for a long moment, his expression twisting into something pained and unreadable. He finally let out a sharp ‘ _feh_ ’ noise and stepped back, chin lowered into a gesture of near submission. “You’re a pain… fine, fine. We’ll save this shitty world.”

Eh-?

“W-We…?”

“Yeah, you got a hearing problem?” Kazuya snapped, “You’re useful, but not to the point where I’d like to hear you bitch day in and day out about your friends.” The demon looked faintly unsettled about something, but Hibiki couldn’t think for the life of him what he had done to rattle the previously unflappable boy. “You don’t know how to do it?”

“I-I know,” Hibiki said hurriedly, “but I have… well, everyone’s sort of…”

“Split into their own little camps,” Kazuya finished, letting out a bitter sounding scoff, “This really is déjà vu. What’re your options?”

“Uh,” the sudden spin on Hibiki’s situation left him wrong footed, and he stumbled over the names, “Daichi, Yamato, Ronaldo, and, um, Anguished One-”

“All four are lame,” Kazuya decided, “I’ll be the fifth choice.”

_Eh-?!_

“The-  _what_?”

“Yamato Hotsuin wants a world based on strength,” Kazuya said, and he shifted his body weight to rest it mostly on one leg, hip jutted out as he looked away with a bored expression, “Ronaldo Kuriki wants a world based on friendship and puppies and rainbows. Daichi Shijima doesn’t know what he wants, and Snazzy Suit Guy… fuck knows what he wants. All of those choices will end badly, trust me.”

He glanced at Hibiki from the corner of his eye, snorting at his incredulous expression, “What? I did my homework on this world.”

Hibiki was silent for a moment, “…what’s your goal, then?”

“The world will be reset,” Kazuya said airily, “Poof! Back to normal, but only on the condition that you leave this realm behind, and come with me. I’ll draw God to me, and be able to fight Him on my home turf.”

Hibiki felt cold. Leave this world, his friends…? “B-But, I can-”

“Look, Polaris is more than you realise,” Kazuya snapped, turning back to Hibiki completely, “The Septentrione? Weak compared to him. At least with me, your victory will be one hundred per cent assured. Them? Not so certain.”

Hibiki wasn’t sure what to think. It was true that with the others, there was a realm of uncertainty, but, they would win. They  _had_  to win. They came this far by themselves, and they can do it now! Even if, even if they were currently splintered and in their own camps…

_Divide and Conquer._

But they were already falling apart. They still had one more Septentrione to go, and Polaris, and they were squabbling over something stupid like how the world should be run when it was nowhere near saved yet. It seemed so… childish, really. So meaningless. Who cared how it was run so long as it was  _saved_? Shouldn’t that type of decision come afterwards?!

“I’m the choice with the least strings attached,” Kazuya said softly, “I’ll reset your world, rescue you from the administrator… this world will have its freedom and its autonomy back. The only price is you.”

The decision was easy, really, even if Hibiki felt sick to his stomach about it.

“…you’ll save everyone?”

“Everyone.”

And there were no grins, nothing that gave away deceit or amusement. Kazuya’s gaze was hard and his words sincere – like this was his own world too, and he wanted to save it. Hibiki ignored the cold rock forming in his stomach and nodded stiffly. This was the better choice, he – he had hoped to go to Daichi, but, he had no idea what to do, unlike Yamato or Ronaldo – and who knew what Anguished One’s motives were.

“Shake on it, just to make sure,” Kazuya said, and this time a grin did form, fangs gleaming.

Hibiki, after a moment of hesitation, took his outstretched hand. A heavy sort of pressure pressed around him as soon as he did, like an unbreakable contract had wrapped itself tightly around his throat.

“You won’t regret it,” Kazuya purred, drawing Hibiki close, his fingers tight around his wrist. “Promise~”

There was no going back now, anyway. 


	2. Spiral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They make their plans in a broken down train station eating takoyaki - Hibiki figures out that Kazuya literally has no clue what he is doing.

Even though their situations were the same, Kazuya couldn’t help but think Hibiki’s world had it a little bit better.

 

Six days – bordering on seven in a few hours – it had been suffering from the apocalypse, and everything was still relatively together! Yeah, there were spats between factions and hungry people, but there was still some sort of… order about. Was it the JP’s guys? Nah, they were kinda like the Shomonkai, and most of the humans – from his astute observations – seemed to hate those guys’ guts. That Ronaldo guy with a larger influence than Kazuya thought? Probably.

 

But, Kazuya supposed that in exchange for a little bit of order, their world was getting gobbled up by that Void shit. _That_ was kind of creepy. Poof, gone. Where did the rest of the world even go? Could he even restore that much? Kazuya had no idea – he was made for breaking things, not making them, but, he made a deal and a promise, so, he’d have to figure it out. Flying by the seat of his pants was his modus operandi after all.  

 

Hibiki made a small noise beside him, and Kazuya tilted his head, listening to the human’s uneven breaths before they settled again. He continued watching out.

 

They took shelter in an old train station. It was still in relatively one piece, and the train that was pulled into it was empty and void of bloodstains (thankfully). Kazuya, out of experience, knew sleeping on concrete sucked, so pushed Hibiki to take a nap on the train seats instead while he kept watch. While Kazuya didn’t need sleep, Hibiki did, and, well, everyone else in this game was probably unconscious as well, so he may as well watch the walls until everything kicked off.

 

He chewed this thumbnail. What a mess.

 

Flickers of light kept dancing in his peripheral, and, fuck, it was so annoying. He glanced at Hibiki, curled up on the seat next to him, watching the little glimmers of God float around the human’s form. They were only scraps, whispers of His power – not even worth Kazuya to spit on, but, it still made his hair stand on end, still made him want to recoil from those peeks of light. Were they sentient? Did they have power? Would those sparks of light grow?

 

…would they possess this human?

 

That was Kazuya’s biggest concern.

 

He swatted at one piece of light viciously, and it slipped between his clawed fingers like water, taunting him as it remained. Growling, Kazuya flexed his fingers and then – clapped his palms around one harshly, able to feel the burn of power against his skin-

 

“Mmnh…?”

 

Kazuya froze when Hibiki mumbled, and slowly settled back in his seat. The human thankfully didn’t rouse any more than that, and Kazuya relaxed his grip, watching the God mote float from his hands and back to hovering over Hibiki. He stared at his palms.

 

Small, blackened burns sizzled on them. They were already healing though, so Kazuya resumed chewing on his thumbnail again.

 

He had no idea what he was doing.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Rise and shiiiine~”

 

Hibiki groaned when someone roughly shook his shoulder, his body rocking from side to side from the overzealous movement. He cracked an eye open, only able to see the blurred face of—oh, right. Memories of last night came forth, and he pulled a face. The Demon King…

 

“Oh, well that’s a pleasant expression,” Kazuya grumbled, and then – Hibiki ‘gck!’d when he felt bony fingers pinch his nose. “I should have heard a ‘Good Morning, Kazuya’ instead of that foul look!”

 

“G-Gerroff…!” Hibiki protested, his voice nasal as he tried to push Kazuya’s hand away. No dice. The Demon King’s grip was like iron and not ready to be moved any time soon.

 

“Only when I hear a ‘good morning’. C’mon, two words. Go.”

 

Hibiki glowered up at Kazuya’s smug face, and wished he could get away with kicking the brat in the shin – or somewhere else a bit more tender. However, Hibiki knew how to pick his battles, so with every inch of his voice grudging, muttered; “Good morning, Kazuya…”

 

The fingers released his nose almost immediately. Hibiki quickly sat up, cupping his throbbing noise, and warily watched as the Demon King stalked off, his cape snapping at the air from the movement. The demon left the train carriage, leaving Hibiki sitting there by himself, somewhat confused.

 

Well…now what.

 

Hibiki dropped his hand from his nose, looking about himself with a small frown. Right, he fell asleep here last night… was it still night? The train station was underground, so, the only light he had were the dim emergency lights. With a sigh, he slowly pushed himself up to his feet, stretching his back for a few moments, before belatedly following Kazuya out of the train carriage.  

 

The train platform was empty, and Hibiki felt a spike of uncertainty. Had the demon just up and abandoned him? He hoped not – it’d be awkward running to Daichi now and explaining that he’d been late because of a random kidnapping by a kid in a cape. He dipped his hand into his hoodie pocket and flipped his phone open – and winced at the messages he saw.

 

Yamato, Ronaldo, and Daichi… each one of them had sent him an email. Feeling a bit cowardly, Hibiki didn’t open them, opting to stuff his phone back into his hoodie pocket. He’d explain the situation to them once he ran into them – a world of strength, or equality… really, did it _truly_ matter compared to the survival of the human race? So, maybe the old world had its faults, but completely rewriting the laws of reality to suit their own ideals was just… not right.

 

He’d have to convince them of that… either through words, or through the rules of their stupid ‘game’: by beating them in a fight.

 

“Oi.”

 

“Ah-!” Hibiki almost leapt a foot in the air at the voice that suddenly spoke into his air, half-flailing as he spun around – very narrowly clocking Kazuya in the jaw. The Demon King nimbly ducked away, chuckling to himself, and held up a paper doggy bag up to his chest in mock-cowering.

 

“Whoa there! It’s just me! I got us some grub,” Kazuya said cheerfully, holding out the doggy bag. Hibiki stared at it suspiciously.

 

“…grub?”

 

“It’s not human, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Kazuya said, his expression perfectly deadpan, “This is edible to humans and not at all morally wrong to devour,” he dug his hand into the bag, and drew out…a takoyaki dumpling. “I stole it from that Yamato dude’s kitchen.”

 

“…” Hibiki just… for a long moment he just stared at Kazuya – and finally couldn’t suppress the snort of laughter that was crawling up his throat. “W-What?”

 

“Hey,” Kazuya pursed his lips together in what suspiciously looked like a pout, “I was doing him a _favour_. Do you know how much takoyaki he had there? Too much. The fucking guy’s _obsessed_. How he isn’t fat I don’t know.”

 

Hibiki shook his head, the brief moment of mirth leaving him. “Whatever makes him happy, I guess,” he half-sighed, and reached out, taking the doggy bag from Kazuya, and leaving the demon holding that one piece of takoyaki. “Thanks.”

 

“Oh, yeah, take the whole bag. Not like I need to eat or anything,” Kazuya grumbled, but made no move to snatch the bag back. He popped the takoyaki ball into his mouth, chewing slowly, and looked down at his wrist. He had a watch which – startled Hibiki because a Demon King possessing a cat face watch didn’t seem very intimidating.

 

“S’almost time to rock and roll,” Kazuya muttered, “Okay, so, I was thinking, we should firstly beat up your friends to know them out of the running, so that they’re unlikely to get in our way. Sound good?”

 

Not really. Hibiki nibbled on a takoyaki dumpling, making an ambiguous noise in the back of his throat. Kazuya took it for confirmation.

 

“Good. So, we’ll go for your best friend first,” the demon continued, “He seems like the weakest, so it’ll take less effort to push him out of the way. Then the Ronaldo guy, because most of his guys are, like, homeless people, so dangerous through desperation, but not through skill. Yamato…”

 

Kazuya had a strange expression on his face then, “He’ll be last, because, not going to lie, I think I’ll have a little bit of difficulty crushing him.”

 

Hibiki frowned, “Crush?”

 

“Not literal crushing,” Kazuya said hastily, lifting his hands up defensively, “Defeat. Yeah, he’ll be difficult to defeat. Then, once all them are out of the way, we can focus on the last Septentrione, pay Polaris a house visit, and blow this joint before teatime.”

 

Kazuya lowered his hands with a confident grin, “Sound like a plan? I think it’ll work out fine.”

 

Hibiki was quiet for a moment, “…what if the Septentrione shows up when we’re in the middle of beating everyone up?”

 

“Uh…” Kazuya hesitated, “Well… depending on whether it causes a lot of collateral damage, or just, hangs about in one spot doing nothing, we can ignore it?”

 

Hibiki stared at him.

 

“Ignore it.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Could they just do that? Granted, whenever they had to try and prepare specific things to defeat the Septentrione (Kama and Shiva, or Lugh), they just left the aliens to their own devices while playing damage control. It still left Hibiki a bit uneasy though, because they used to have the power of JP’s to manage that – everyone was too disorganised now to keep a Septentrione busy while wrapping up loose ends.

 

“I could always keep it busy with some demons if it comes to it,” Kazuya offered, “Zerg rush it for a few hours – hell, it might even weaken it, so it’d just be a matter of a coup de grace coming from us to push it over.”

 

Hibiki still had his reservations, but he nodded after a pause. He doubted they were going to be able to stick to this ‘plan’ anyway. What if Ronaldo or Yamato instigated a fight before they reached Daichi? What if the Septentrione just raged throughout what was left of Japan, overwhelming what support Kazuya could send against it? Too many unknowns, so, may as well just go with the flow. That’s how they’ve been surviving so far.

 

“Fine…” Hibiki said slowly, “But I want to say – let’s try talking to them first. I don’t really want…” He trailed off.

 

“…right,” Kazuya said, his lips pursing as he frowned. It was an unreadable expression, one that made Hibiki feel a bit childish under the weight of the Demon King’s stare. And… so what? Perhaps it was a bit childish for him to expect Yamato and Ronaldo to turn away from their ideals after a dramatic speech, but he’d rather try that first than jumping in fists flying. Less chance of people being hurt.

 

“’Kay, we’ll talk to them first,” Kazuya continued after a tense pause, “And then kick their asses.”

 

A silence lulled over them, and Hibiki rolled the end of the doggybag up, no longer feeling hungry. Kazuya was still staring at him with that complicated look, and it made Hibiki feel like a bug in a jar. What…? Was it really that weird that he had his friends’ safety in mind? Hibiki shifted uncomfortably as the silence stretched.

 

“What?” Hibiki finally demanded.

 

“…nothing,” the demon muttered, looking annoyed. “Anyway, you done with that? If so, we can get moving.”

 

Hibiki shoved the bag against Kazuya’s chest, ignoring the ‘oof’ from the other, and crossed his arms immediately afterwards, beginning to feel annoyed himself. Absolute certainty of success if he went with him, huh? So far, Hibiki was beginning to doubt his decision. Kazuya had seemed so confident last night, so sure that he could save this world as easy as anything, but this morning? He looked like he was just half-assing the entire thing with that ‘plan’ of his.

 

“Grumpy…” Kazuya said, “But whatever. Gimme your hand.”

 

Hibiki stared as Kazuya stretched his hand out expectantly, and after a moment of hesitation, did as he was asked. The demon’s skin was uncomfortably hot, able to feel it burning against his palm when thin but strong fingers curled around his own.

 

“We’re going to Daichi’s place,” Kazuya said, “Take a deep breath and close your eyes. My teleporting’s pretty rough.”  

 

Hibiki did as instructed, closing his eyes and sucking in a deep breath – and then had an awful feeling of something slimy and cold slide over his body, winding up his legs and over his torso and – oh it was so hideous, he clenched his hand tightly over Kazuya’s, squeezing his eyes shut-

 

With a deafening crack, they were gone from the station, and marking the beginning of a Saturday towards Annihilation. 


End file.
